ALDI – is it really cheaper and is it any good?

The doom and gloom of last week’s budget have many re-evaluating their finances, no wonder then that more and more Australians are opting to shop away from Woolworths and Coles, and heading to Aldi to make their cash go further.

But is it really cheaper? And more to the point, if it is, is it to the detriment of quality?

The first full-hearted recommendation I had of Aldi was from a source I trusted and respected very much, my sister-in-law. When staying with her in Brisbane, for breakfast one morning she offered us lovely bagels, fresh fruit, and smoked salmon. The salmon in particular was really flavoursome, and I asked my sister-in-law where she’d got it.

I was pretty surprised when she said Aldi.

In fact all the things on the breakfast table were from Aldi and they all tasted great, and that’s when I discovered she did most of her weekly shopping there for her family of six. If she gave the shop her stamp of approval it had to be worth leaving my prejudices by the door and giving it a fair go.

The store itself is smaller than your normal supermarket, and unlike most, you are not greeted by an inviting fresh fruit and veg section, but rather row upon row of biscuits and cans. Most of the labels look familiar, but on second glance, most are not the brand you thought they were.

The beans and the chunky soups are good examples, you think they are Heinz, but closer inspection shows it’s another brand entirely. Brands like Maggi, Patak’s and Heinz were also in evidence, but if you are going to put aside pre-conceived ideas and save your cash, my advice is to give some of the other brands a go.

I recently wanted to buy some potato chips and was walking past an Aldi so dragged my husband in. To say he was unimpressed was an understatement; he looked in pure disgust at the rows of snacks. ‘Wow, look at all the familiar brand names we can choose from’ was his sarcastic commentary. I picked up a bag of chips, similar in design to Red Rock Deli Chips or Kettle Chips. Aldi’s version are called Blackstone Chips and we sampled the Honey Roast Ham Flavour.

When it came to trying them, my husband was desperate for them to be inedible. But they weren’t.

They were actually really nice. A good crunch, natural flavour (well as natural as a potato chip flavour ever will be), and not greasy. I would go so far as to say I preferred them to Red Rock Deli Chips, Kettle Chips or The Natural Chip Company. Best of all the Aldi offering at $2.69 for 200g beat all the others on price too. Coles is currently selling Red Rock Deli Chips for $3 for 185g, and that’s on special (usual price $4.55), while Woolworths has Kettle Chips on offer at the moment, for $3 for 185g, (usual price $4.50).

In my chosen ‘basket’ of items, Aldi won on price for nearly everything; there were only a few items the ‘big two’ could beat. The worst value at Aldi were:

1kg bag of white sugar: $1.69 compared to $1.65 from Coles and $1.50 from Woolworths

500g of butter: was cheaper at Coles by 8 cents

500g penne pasta: you could also save 8 cents with Woolworths coming in at 71 cents to Aldi’s 79 cents

In fact overall the most expensive basket was Woolworths, coming in at $77.47, followed by Coles at $71.75. Cheapest by far was Aldi at $52.64.

The basket isn’t just cheaper because it features brands you haven’t heard of; Maggi’s One Pan Meal cost $2.52 and $2.46 at Coles and Woolworths respectively, whereas Aldi only charged $1.69. The brands selected for the Woolworths and Coles baskets are not the leading brands (eg Heinz) but Coles/Woolworths own brands, or else the cheapest brand equivalent available in those stores.

Overall the Woolworths basket may be slightly dearer than Coles, but I imagine that week on week it will probably differ according to specials etc, so over a year it would probably work out about equal.

The savings however offered by Aldi are seriously impressive.

Aldi is currently running an ad campaign showing a basket offering savings of 36% compared to other stores. For my chosen basket, Aldi proved to be 27% cheaper than Coles and 32% cheaper than Woolworths. Over a year those savings will really add up.

Now to the question of taste – are the savings you make at the expense of product quality?

Well, the answer in my opinion is “no”.

Sure, you might occasionally hit on something you’re not keen on, but isn’t that the case with any product? I’ve tried Aldi’s minced beef at my sister-in-laws when she made an amazing Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe with it, and it was fabulous, it had a good hearty flavour with no fatty residue, big thumbs up. Aldi’s Blackwell Chips I’ve already mentioned, and I prefer them to the leading brands.

I’ve yet to have something from Aldi which I’ve been disappointed with. One of the more surprising things when visiting Aldi is that aside from cheaper every day shopping basket items, there are some surprising luxuries and treats available at great prices. Decadent Belgian Praline chocolate seashells by Guylian for example are just $6.99 for a 185g box. Woolworths offer 250g for a whopping $16.29. French pink lemonade is just $3.99 for 750ml. One of the best finds had to be fabulous Parma Ham which boasts the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) logo on the packet, so you know you’re getting the real deal, at a very cheap price of just $4.99 80g . There are even some affordable allergy-free foods. Gluten free pasta 500g was just $2.69, while lactose free milk was $1.99 for a litre.

If we’re talking about the luxuries of life, selected Aldi stores also boast a range of alcohol. The range of reds wines in particular has some particularly well priced offerings from the old world. We tasted the Corte Carista Chianti Classico 2009 at $9.99 for 750ml. This was given a three star rating by Decanter magazine, and we agree with description of ‘plum aromas…crisp earthy tanine’. It might be considered slightly raw on the tongue, but for under ten bucks, it’s perfectly acceptable plonk for at home drinking.

For white wines the offering is nearly all new world and also offers good value. For our midweek dinner at the BYO fish restaurant we tried the Second Left Sauv Blanc at $8.99 for 750ml. A bronze award winner at the Royal Adelaide Wine Show, it was dry, fresh with faint floral notes, and a very acceptable tipple with our barramundi.

Also worth noting is that Aldi offers the Veuve Monsigny Brut Champagne for just $24.99 for 750ml, representing excellent value for money. With hints of lemon and honey it is a dangerously drinkable bottle, and for once proves you can have literally Champagne taste on a lemonade budget.

So let’s round up the pros and cons.

Let’s start with the negatives first, the shopping experience is different to what you are used to. You have to pay a coin deposit for your trolley (and there are only trolleys, no baskets), the store is smaller, and it all feels a bit oppressive. In amongst the beans and ketchup you’ll find weekly specials, on the occasion when I was there it was snowboarding/skiing gear and thermal underwear, which to be blunt is a bit bizarre. When you get to the checkout, they’ll want to check your bags to ensure you haven’t nicked a pair of woolly pants, and note you’ll need to bring your or buy their shopping bags as Aldi don’t provide any.

Another thing which is definitely worth noting (and I didn’t until I left the store), if you pay by a card you have to pay a small surcharge. It’s not much but on the basis you want to save money by shopping here, you may well want to make sure you draw cash out to pay with so you save every cent you can. Alcohol departments are not available in all stores so if you want to buy wine at Aldi make sure you check the website to see if your local store offers it.

The final con with Aldi is that you can’t order online, though you can now buy liquor online. Its website offers a ‘shopping list’ tool so you can get organised in advance and plan your budget, but that said, the tool doesn’t seem to offer a fruit and veg section or even the full range of products available.

In addition, the taste of the products I’ve tried is not a compromise, it’s bloody good.

For me, none of these cons are major; the underlying pro is that Aldi is a lot cheaper than the big supermarkets. If that means I have to put a coin in to secure a trolley I can deal with that (it’s not like you don’t get it back). In addition, the taste of the products I’ve tried is not a compromise, it’s bloody good. But definitely the biggest plus, and the one I did not expect to find, was the hidden luxury goods on offer.

Of course it depends on how near you live to an Aldi and how big your weekly shop is. If you’re going to spend more on petrol getting to your nearest Aldi than you are going to save on your shop, perhaps changing your supermarket allegiance isn’t the smartest move for you. But for me, while I might not be changing my entire shopping to Aldi (online shopping is just too convenient for me), I will definitely be returning to Aldi in the near future.

20 Comments

Great summary – and I have to agree with every word. My partner and I do the bulk of our shopping at Aldi and at our local Asian supermarket. We only go to Coles or Woolworths for very specific items – ie the Lavazza ground coffee when it’s on sale, or my cat’s preferred brand of cat litter crystals or Fancy Feast (how spoiled! :P). We save hundreds over the course of the year by shopping at Aldi.

Thanks Amanda, glad you agree! I would certainly swap to Aldi for my ‘big’ weekly shop if I had a car. I’m glad I left my preconceived ideas by the door and gave it ago, I was impressed with what I found.

I’ve been shopping at Aldi for years and would have to disagree with a lot of what you say.

PROs 1. A big one is that the layout never changes (much) and is the same in all stores (almost) 2. Quality on many products is excellent, as you say 3. Prices are much better, even more than you say 4. Stores are small and not full of junk (except for that centre aisle which I never look at)

CONs 1. Quality on some products is poor. Eg even the premium tuna is worse than any of the brands in Woolworths 2. Quality is variable. Eg we love the corn flakes but had several packets with hard lumps which almost broke your teeth. 3. Can’t get everything you need. So you have to do a shop in Woolies anyway. 4. A product you have come to depend on will simply disappear for months at a time. Eg corn flakes (again) 5. Emphasis is on taste, which is good, but sometimes this seems to be at the expense of other qualities like healthiness

Not sure I would agree that shopping in Aldi feels oppressive. I think it’s just a different low cost warehouse style pallets on floor layout that is very different to the full service business model from Coles and Woolworths.

As a food manufacturer supplying supermarkets, i have mixed feelings about Aldi.

They treat suppliers fairly and they offer a genuine source of competition to Woolworths and Coles now. As you point out, consumers can make significant savings and for the most part the product quality is very good. For me, the only exception is fresh meat.

On the other hand, the fact that they have been successful with in house unknown brands emboldened Coles and Woolworths to significantly increase their own private label offerings and in the process delete from their shelves a lot of well known brands.

The Aldi I visited, having just left a Coles in the same shopping centre, felt a little oppressive by comparrison, but granted it could just be the layout of that particular store (you have to take an escalator downstairs to it and it just feels rather enclosed). That said, I’ll definitely be going back there so it can’t have put me off that much!

An interesting exercise. We have no Aldi here in Adelaide, but I love to have poke around them when I’m in Melbourne. I would have liked to see a comparison which included independent supermarkets, though, as I never shop with either of the big 2.

I love Aldi too! I do a lot of shopping there, they have products which I can’t get anywhere else, love their smoked oysters in water (not vege oil or sugar laden BBQ sauce), kale is about half the price of that in Coles, and once I even spotted french cheese (st agur or roquefort). Love their bocconcini too. You also have to be really quick at removing/packing your groceries at the checkout, the operators are pretty [email protected] fast.

Since retiring in January, my partner and I took note of what our ‘ducking in to the supermarket’ after going to the gym every day or every other day really costs. We found very quickly that in Aldi we would spend up to $30 or $40, while in the two other majors up to $90… for just a few items! I cannot complain for a second about Aldi, or the quality of any of their products.

As I cook all our food from scratch I find that Aldi lack a lot of the ingredients I need. They tend to stock a lot of snack/junk food. I end up having to then also go to Coles/Woolies to finish my shop, which is a bit time consuming. Aldi do have good quality and low price meat & fresh produce though. I am concerned about the growing number of generic brands on the shelves across all the supermarkets. These are often cheaper & push other brands out. Already struggling Australian owned/made products need our support to stay in business.

I will still buy Aldi but I find it is a quite mixed bag of goods, especially in terms of quality. We have been quite disappointed with some of their meat quality and stopped buying it there. One gets some good priced clothing issues at times and the occassional good quality electrical goods at good price, but have returned faulty goods twice over the years. Real bargains are lost to early shoppers and appear to be small in quantity. They are changing their food sources from time to time. I really liked their previous brand (Premium) of Red Salmon, tinned. It was good quality salmon. But they have replaced now from a distinctly poorer quality source. This regular purchase of mine is another struck off my list of regular goods. Their frozen Hoki fish is good and a regular purchase. I just hope they don’t cost cut too much more in terms of quality in foodstuffs. Aldi is ok with some savings, but not marvellous these days, imo.

No Aldi is not cheaper at all. A fair compairson is to check the generic or shop brands prices at other supermarkets. You cant really compare top name brands with Aldi’s shop brands. I usually shop at Coles and have found their generic or shop brands to be so much cheaper than Aldi. I buy my meat at a local Supa IGA as it really is cheap there! A recent shop (normal weekly items no extras) came to a whopping $24.76 more than Coles. So for me no I wouldnt go back there. Plus I dont have to mess around with pay trolleys and packing my stuff, although that wasnt a huge problem really. How many of us remember Jack the Slasher from decades back? Had to price and pack it yourself. Personally I dont like Aldi and I dont find it cheaper.

Sadly Aldi has sold out and has halal certification for many of their goods. This means they pay big bucks to Islamic organisations that pressure them into putting a sharia law label on products – otherwise muslims will boycott them. The money companies pay for this certification goes to support islamists/terrorists and other programs that encourage sharia law. Do yourself and your families a favour and boycott any products that carry this label.

My experience today at Carindale’s ALDI (Queensland Brisbane) was extremely disappointing. I was offered an empty box of (Cocoon’s) wireless phone and when I went back (within 30 minutes) to get it replaced, I faced the scepticism of one of the gentleman there (As if I lied to him and he compared the weight of the box with those on display). It was next to humiliation as he kept on doing the same thing for the next 20minutes. I hope ALDI has some explanation about the customer service they are offering? Sorry about my harsh words.

P.s – The packed boxes in the locked glass cabinet were also empty when i was offered one. Thanks

The difference between Aldi and Woolworths/Coles is that they try their utmost to source produce locally. They are exactly who they say they are and there is no pretence there. It’s a small supermarket … so what? You pack your own bags? Big deal. You’re doing that at the big two now anyway, since they automated most of the checkouts and cut staff.

I do very little shopping now at Colesworths because shopping at Aldi gets everything we need and use at significantly lower prices. Our grocery bill at Woolworths was heading towards $200 per week. It is now around $130.

The product quality is excellent on most things. I would say even better than the homebrand elsewhere and at least you know where it comes from.

I go to an independent grocer near to home if there is anything else I can’t get … and that’s very little really.

I would recommend Aldi to anyone with a family because the savings are enormous. Abandon your ideals of helping Australian businesses by shopping with the big two because that just isn’t a reality. They don’t care about anyone but themselves. They have cut staff and dropped suppliers. Why should you give them your business.